


Sick Kitty

by NYWCgirl



Series: Soft Kitty verse [5]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen, Pneumonia, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 11:43:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3568394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal is sick, when he transforms…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Kitty

**Author's Note:**

> It fills the ´pneumonia´ square on my h/c bingo card. Originally published on September18th 2014.  
> Picture can be found: http://nywcgirl.livejournal.com/4495.html

Neal had been feeling sick all week and on Friday Peter took pity on him and had sent him home, as long as Neal promised to go to bed, rest and drink plenty of fluids.

Peter hadn´t heard from Neal all day, so at the end of the day, he called El and told her that he would first check up on Neal before coming home. El told him to bring Neal over if he was sick, since June was visiting her family and wouldn´t be back until after the weekend. Before he left the office, Peter had checked Neal´s anklet and it showed him at home.

So Peter parked the car a block from June´s and started walking towards the house, calling Neal to tell him he was on his way. But nobody answered the phone, maybe Neal had taken Peter´s advice and gone to bed.

When the maid let Peter in, he quickly walked up the stairs and found the door to Neal´s loft unlocked, so he let himself in.

´Not again…´ Peter muttered. The anklet, together with Neal´s clothing was lying in a heap in the middle of the room. Peter looked around to see if he could locate Neal, but he wasn´t on the couch or in his bed. Of course not, Peter thought, Neal wasn´t big enough to get on either of those items. So he started looking on the ground, in the bathroom and finally he saw that Neal´s walk in closet door was open.

And there, underneath the clothes, in the dark was a small bundle of fur. He had been sick, as Peter could see, so he went into the bathroom and got some toilet paper to clean up the mess. He took the shivering bundle up and noticed the heat radiating from it. Not good, Neal had been sick when he went home and as a kitten, he would probably feel even worse. Peter called El to ask what to do as he explained that he had found Neal and that he suspected that Neal had pneumonia because he could hear a rattling in Neal´s chest and he was breathing rapidly.

El asked if he could check in his mouth, if the mucous membranes of his mouth were blue, Peter needed to go to the vet, because that meant that Neal had oxygen deficiency. Wow, since when did his wife know that?

Peter checked and they were not really blue but also not looking pink, so he called their vet and was told to come over and to keep Neal warm. So he wrapped Neal up in one of June´s overpriced towels and drove to Brooklyn.

Peter had to wait for some other patients and Neal remained asleep or unconscious, Peter was not sure. When the duty doctor saw Neal and took his temperature, he didn´t even flinch when they did it, Peter made a mental note not to mention to Neal how they had taken his temperature…The doctor ordered a chest X-ray to determine if it was pneumonia. He explained that kittens are likely to develop pneumonia and that it had been a good thing that Peter had sought assistance, as it almost always requires medical attention.

After the X-rays confirmed that Neal had caught pneumonia, Peter was send home with a nebulizer to get the antibiotics into Neal´s lungs. He also got a list of instructions, keep him warm, humidify the air, plenty of water, etc..

Peter got everything into the car and drove home.

Once home, he made Neal comfortable and looked after Satchmo, who also needed some attention. Peter then went to the basement to look for the humidifier they once bought but never used. He was in luck, he found it rather quickly, so he filled it up and put it next to the recliner. He then got himself comfortable on the couch and started op the nebulizer, keeping the mask, near Neal´s muzzle, so he would inhale the antibiotics. Neal woke up because of the noise of the nebulizer but only weekly moved, so Peter got the syringe he prepared earlier with water and gently drop by drop injected it in Neal´s mouth. After that Neal went back to sleep, as did Satchmo and Peter, and that is how El found them, they were all sprawled on the couch, sleeping. El walked over and gave Peter a kiss, waking him. He looked a bit dazed around and then tiredly smiled at El.

´Hey Hon, how was your day?´ He asked.

´I think less stressful than yours. He has pneumonia?´ El asked worried.

´Yep, he can never make it easy.´ We will need to make him eat as he has no real reserves. The doc said we should give him strong smelling foods, like canned tuna, as he probably won´t smell a thing.´ Peter explained.

´I could warm it up a bit, that will get the flavors more aromatic. I will see what I can do´. With that El left for the kitchen, to prepare dinner for themselves and Neal.

When she was done warming Neal´s dinner, she put it in the syringe, it had worked before and with Neal so weak, this was probably the only way they would get some sort of food in him. She walked back over to Peter and handed him the syringe, he had Neal in a towel on his lap, with Satchmo sitting next to him, looking interested in what Peter was doing.

Peter gently shook Neal awake and when he opened his eyes, they were a bit encrusted, Peter asked El for a warm and wet washcloth to clean Neal´s eyes. Which Neal didn´t appreciate, so he started squirming and snarling at Peter, but Peter was firm and completed the task. Neal just glared tiredly at Peter. But then when he relaxed more and Peter held the syringe in front of him, he started sniffing and soon he was licking the syringe. But after only half, he already lost interest and started fading, so Peter took the towel, which got dirty during feeding and left Neal sleeping. He would put him in his high-end cat bed later.

Peter got up and enjoyed a delicious dinner with El and after doing the dishes, he made the nebulizer ready for use, took Neal in his lap and held the mask in front of Neal. But this was not what Neal had in mind. He thought he would be petted, so once the mask came in sight, he started to back away and tried to climb Peter´s chest, but as he was to weak and short of breath, he wasn´t going anywhere and Peter easily put him back in his lap and started petting him. Neal started purring, although it sounded congested. He tried to make himself comfortable in Peter´s lap by kneading his legs. Which made Peter grimace; as Neal had tiny claws that felt like tiny little pinpricks in his leg. But eventually, he seemed to have found a spot and enjoyed the petting while Peter held the nebulizer next to his muzzle, so he breathed more easily.

When it was time to go to bed, El told Peter to bring Neal´s bed with them upstairs, so they could keep an eye on Neal and avoid that Satchmo had to come up. But off course they couldn´t keep Satchmo away from Neal, so they all slept upstairs, Satchmo next to Neal´s bed.

During the night Peter woke because of a noise, he disoriented listened to what had woken him until he realized it was Neal´s breathing. How could such a small kitten make such noise? He didn´t sound well though, so Peter got the humidifier and placed it next to Neal´s bed, maybe that would make breathing a bit easier.

The next time he got up was when Satchmo was whining; Peter looked at Neal´s bed and saw that he wasn´t there. Peter was already getting up when he saw that Neal had snuggled in between Satchmo´s fur again, it must be where he felt safe, because Peter could hardly see him between the fur he had buried himself in.

When the first light filtered through the curtains, Peter was exhausted, he had gotten up a couple of times to try to get Neal to drink something. The first thing he did before relieving himself was putting Neal on the litter box. Neal just peed and stayed where he was, probably feeling too bad to move, so Peter picked him up, wrapped him in a towel and took him downstairs, where El had placed two syringes, one with warmed tuna and one with kitten milk.

Neal only finished half before he fell asleep again. Peter placed him on the couch with the nebulizer next to him, so he could inhale the antibiotics.

Luckily, it was Saturday, El had a venue to attend, but Peter contently spent the day taking care of Neal together with Satchmo, watching the sport channel, relaxing.

When later in the day, Neal transformed back, we was still sleeping on the couch with the nebulizer next to his mouth. Peter already had the Tylenol, water, thermometer and tissues ready on the coffee table. He draped a quilt over Neal and continued watching a game, waiting for Neal to feel better.

 


End file.
